Talk:savage

The word 'savage' is used heavily in the Republic of Ireland in an identical manner to the way 'awesome' is used in the United States. It can be used as an adjective, eg; 'He is a savage football player' as a noun, eg; 'She is (a) savage' (i.e. 'she is attractive') and also on it's own as an exclamation of praise or wonder, eg; 'Savage!'. Note when used as an exclamation there is often heavy and prolonged stress on the first two syllables. It is most notable in Dublin altough it can be heard throughout the country.

Would appreciate if someone stuck in a tab for this on the entry for the word. Thanks jamesy —This comment was unsigned.

I haven't yet found evidence suitable for attestation of this sense. The first 100 Irish newspaper articles I looked at did not reflect it. There did seem to be much use of the word in political discussion. Budget cuts seem always to be "savage".

Is there a Gaelic word that sounds like savage or some other linguistic phenomenon which might account for some difference with other parts of the English-speaking world in usage of "savage"? DCDuringTALK 17:44, 14 December 2008 (UTC)